Exposed
A/N: Well, I have always been a big fan of Les Miserables, and an even bigger fan of Eponine Thenardier!
So, I was listening to 'The Attack on Rue Plumet' last night, and had a spark of insperation. I know everyone has done a lot on this particular scene, or should I say song, but I wanted to try my own style and take on this...I'm not exactly happy with the ending, and feel it was a little...rushed. And I had so much trouble with the tenses, so if there are mistakes (which I am sure there are, I am just soo tired that I can't be bothered searching them out), please tell me! Either way, I hope you enjoy my little fic on Eponine! R&R!
"Who is this hussy?" A voice comes from the dark, and Eponine, who has been resting on the stones in front of the Lark's house, jumps up onto her feet. She bristles. That voice.
The voice of her father.
Another voice sneers, and a pale, ghoulish face appears from the dark. Brujon. A sinking feeling appears in Eponine's empty stomach. Why was he here?
"It's yer brat Eponine. Don't you know yer own kid, Thenardier?"
Another voice joins the rabble. "Why's she hanging about you?" says the huge, looming Babet. He and her father have stepped into the light of the street, out of the shadows.
Her father's rough voice spits towards Eponine, but she doesn't flinch. She knows what is going to happen. And she won't allow it.
"Eponine get on home! You're not needed in this, we're enough here without you!"
Eponine steps forward, and triumph fills her as she watches her father and his gang step back. "I know this house I tell you!" She hisses, "there's nothing here for you!"
Brujon steps forward back into the light, and Eponine sharpens her tone. "Just the old man and the girl; they live ordinary lives!"
This time Thenardier's face wrinkles in anger. She imagines his confusion at her change of alliance. He obviously still thought that she was their guard dog.
"Don't interfere missy! You've got some gall! Take care young miss, you've got a lot to say!" He snarls.
Brujon scoffs in the background. "I don't believe it. Eponine, she's going soft!"
Another figure joins the group, and attempts to step around Eponine. It's Claquesous. "Happens to all", he growls, baring yellow teeth in her direction when she drives him away from the wall with a hiss.
And to Eponine's horror, another person steps up next to her father. A person who haunted her nightmares, with wandering hands and cruel eyes. Montparnasse.
Yes, this is exactly what Eponine thought was going to happen. Thenardier wanted revenge on the man who took Cosette away all those years ago, so he was going to rob the old house.
"Go home 'Ponine, go home! You're in the way!" He snaps, with that light of cruelty in his eyes.
Sure enough, the group advances, Brujon and Babet checking the walls, and Eponine's heartbeats increase rapidly.
No! Marius would think she was getting revenge on him, that she was in it too! He'd think she was nothing but a worthless cambrioleur!
Those thoughts had Eponine stumbling forward to stand in front of her father and Montparnasse, who were glaring at her with both surprise and anger in their eyes.
"I'm gonna scream! I'm gonna warn them here!" She shrieks, her voice shrill with fear and desperation.
Thenardier springs on her, and shoves her with both hands against the wall of Rue Plumet. The impact sends the air whooshing out of Eponine's chest, and her shoulder throbs.
Thenardier's putrid breath clouds over her face, and his eyes glow with rage at his daughter's disobedience.
"One little scream and you'll regret it for a year!" He snarls. Beckoning to Montparnasse, he has the man hold Eponine by the arms, pining her to the wall. The feeling of Montparnasse's hands on her arms has Eponine shuddering, and Montparnasse glares at her.
"Keep quiet, putain, and I won't knock out the remainder of your teeth!" He threatens, and Eponine, ignoring the threat, pride demanding that she fight, writhes violently. Montparnasse swears and sends a violent kick into her left knee. Eponine bites her lip to keep from screeching, and tastes blood.
There was laughter and Eponine turns her head to see Claquesous glancing between her father and her, his eyes alight with cruel humor.
"What a palaver, what an absolute treat! To watch a cat and it's father pick a bone in a street, well, it doesn't get much finer!"
Thenardier, who was wobbling uncertainly under the hold of Babet and Brujon, his hands on the top of the wall, glances back at Eponine. His expression is murderous.
"Not a sound out of yew!"
Panic floods through Eponine. He was so close to climbing over the wall! She had to act now!
Striking out at an unexpecting Montparnasse, she kicks him violently in the crotch and sends him to the ground with another kick to the nose.
Jumping clear of the now groaning Montparnasse, she lands in a crouch, turning to snarl upwards at her father and his thugs.
"Well I told you I'd do it! Told you I'd do it!" She snarls, and before any of the group can react, she screams.
Her voice bounces off the dark pavement and echoes around the narrow street. She listens for a moment, and triumph rekindles in her as she hears the shouts of surprise.
The reaction is instantaneous. There is muffled shouts and Claquesous is the first to reach Eponine, cutting off the remainder of her scream with a blow to her face. She was knocked to the wet ground, and hears her father's frantic orders to his men through dazed ears.
"You wait me girl, you'll rue this night! I'll make you scream, you'll scream alright!" Her father roars, and she is suddenly lifted up onto her feet by the hair and her father is slapping her across the face.
Furious and defiant, Eponine spat in his face, which only ended up in her getting another slap.
With an air of disgust, Thenardier throws her back to the ground and gives her a swift kick to the stomach. Eponine cringes, and bites a bit of cloth from her chemise to try and block the pain.
By now, her cheeks are stinging, and her lip torn and bleeding, but she refuses to let the tears that are welling in her eyes fall.
"Just you wait!" She hears her father seeth above her, before backing away into the shadows with harsh orders. "Leave 'er to me! Don't wait around! Make for the sewers! Go underground!"
And then, he was gone. Eponine drags herself to her feet, and attempts to limp back into the shadows. But suddenly, there was the sound of shoes on pavement, and she turns to see Marius bounding towards her.
"'Ponine! It was your cry, it sent them away! Once more 'Ponine, saving the day!" He says, and wraps an arm around her, gently leading her over to the barricaded wall. Warmth blossoms in Eponine's body, and she manages a shaky smile up at him.
But as soon as he has lead her to the wall of Rue Plumet, he relinquishes his grip over her. He calls into the gloom of the garden, and a sinking feeling appears in Eponine's stomach once again.
"Dearest Cosette, come see! My friend 'Ponine, she brought me to you. Showed me the way!"
The lovely brunette girl appears, and her big blue eyes widen at the sight of Eponine. But before either girl can say a thing, there is the sound of footsteps on the ground and Marius stiffens.
"Somebody's here! We must go! Let's not be seen! Somebody's here!" He says softly as to not rouse the people of Paris. For a single second Eponine watches as Marius shares an anguished, loving look with Cosette, and hate is quick to rise and claim her.
She swears that she has never hated the girl any more than this moment, and has to bite her bleeding lip to stop from crying out at the pain in her heart.
But of course, she is Eponine Thenardier, and she does not show weakness. So she buries her angry thoughts, and lets Marius lead her gently back into the shadows.
For a moment, all Eponine does is rethink her actions, and what she has done. She has brought the lovers together for him, and her heart is aching. She has fought off her father and his gang for him, and now she is bruised and bleeding.
No doubt she will do more, but the question is what exactly will she do for him?
She is bewildered. Never has she felt more exposed, more vulnerable, then in front of the boy that stands next to her, oblivious to her mess of thoughts.
He is too lost in his love for the Lark to ever notice her, but still she opens up her heart and sacrifices everything for him.
What more can she do, or will do, for this accursed, lovely, handsome Marius?